Thursday, September 11, 2008

I didn't plan on writing anything about 9/11 today. I didn't know anyone in the towers, I only have a couple friends from New York state, and I was in small town Jackson, MI when it happened. But when I saw this picture today on NASA's website, it brought back crazy feelings.

I recall being in high school Government class and the instructor talking about how everyone in his generation recalls two events (depending on how old they were): 1. the moon landing and 2. JFK's assassination. I wondered if anything would happen to my generation. My parents, both fairly young, had no recollection of those two events and never talked about an important part of history except perhaps the Challenger explosion. Well, now I'm one of those people that'll have a moment in life I'll never forget where I was.

I had been driving to a city college I was attending right out of high school to save money for a transfer to a larger school. In my small town, and in many small towns, Bob and Tom had a popular radio show. I was listening in on that day and recall in the middle of an interview with some comedian Bob said a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers and as they received more info they would tell us. At the time I didn't think it was a commercial airplane. His tone made it sound like a plane carrying 5-10 passengers. This may be due to the fact that they had as little knowledge of the incident as the rest of us. As the show went on, just before I got to the parking lot, they mentioned that another plane had crashed. I turned off the radio, parked the car, and walked straight to the college cafeteria. There was a group of 12 or so people all just sitting and watching the TV in shock. I honestly felt the way it looks in movies: there's some national tragedy and everyone is silent just staring at the television. I don't recall any conversations besides the utterances of "My God" or "Wow" and many of us just standing and waiting. Waiting for something to happen or someone to tell us what the hell was going on.

None of us went to class and a few more people came in and watched the television. I remember sitting there with people I never thought I would be next to: an older, hispanic woman who was one of the cafeteria workers, a 50-year-old man who had decided to go back to school after serving this country and working for many years, and a young man around my age who had recently just enrolled in the National Reserve. We didn't talk much, that was until the third plane hit the Pentagon. This caused many people to panic and others to pray. I myself was just in shock and called my parents.

I don't recall too much after that except going home to watch the news for the most hours I have ever in my life...total. It was a scary time in which I could honestly say I had no idea what was going on in the world. My heart goes out to all the families that lost someone on that day and may we learn from this event that life can be short and to truly appreciate what one has. I know I did that day.